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Preparing mixes

4 min read · #production · #crafts

Why a mix is two things

A bath bomb recipe says "0.5 kg of base mix per unit". That base mix is not bought, it is prepared in the factory from its own ingredients. So it lives twice:

  • As a raw material, so recipes can consume it and stock is deducted when the finished product is received.
  • As an artefact, with its own recipe and its own job orders, so the preparer has work to do and a batch to receive into stock.

The link between the two is one field on the raw material: Made in-house as. Set it to the mix's artefact. That is the whole setup.

Setting up a mix

  1. Create the artefact for the mix under Factory → Crafts → Artefacts, with its recipe steps and its own raw materials, like any other artefact. Give it a stock (SKU) so received batches have somewhere to go.
  2. Create or open the raw material for the mix under Factory → Crafts → Raw materials. Edit it, set Made in-house as to the artefact from step 1, and give it the same stock (SKU).
  3. Use the raw material in recipes. On each product that needs the mix, add the mix to the right recipe step with the quantity per unit.
  4. Attach the preparer to the mix artefact, or to a category holding all the mixes, under Usually made by. Job orders for mixes then go to that person.

The Mixes tab

Factory → To produce → Mixes lists every in-house raw material that an open job order needs. A job order is open from the moment it is created until it is received into stock.

For each mix you see:

  • Needed: open job order quantities multiplied by the recipe's quantity per unit, added up across products.
  • On hand: the stock of the mix right now.
  • Being made: the quantity in open job orders for the mix itself.
  • Short: needed minus on hand minus being made. Short lines come first and are shown in red.
  • Needed for: the product codes that consume it, so the preparer knows what is waiting.

Tick the mixes to prepare, adjust the quantity if the shortfall is not the right batch, and press Create job orders. One job order per preparer is created, addressed to them, in draft. Open it and press Release to floor when it should start.

What the preparer does

The preparer runs their own line, so they hold the Mix preparer position for the factory. That lets them open the Mixes tab, create and release their own job orders, and receive them into stock, without waiting for anyone. They cannot touch job orders addressed to other people; that stays with the planner. On the floor they work like any artisan: their tasks appear on the floor screen, they press START and DONE, and when the last step is done the job order is received into stock with a batch code. From that moment the mix shows as on hand and the artisans' products can be made.

If the preparer is not paid by piece rate, that is a payroll setting, not a reason to skip the floor. The record of who prepared which batch and when is what gives traceability from the finished product back to its ingredients.

Things worth knowing

  • A mix cannot need itself. If the mix artefact's own recipe lists the same raw material, that line is ignored.
  • The Mixes tab only reads job orders in this factory. A product made in another factory does not create demand here.
  • "Being made" counts a job order until it is received into stock, even if every task is done. Receive job orders promptly and the numbers stay honest.

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